Amy Blankenship - Addictive Blood

“Kane,” Michael complained and tried to disengage himself from his brother’s death grip. This wasn’t exactly the contact he had in mind not to mention the wrong person had their legs wrapped around him.

“I just missed you sooooooo much,” Kane said with a fake sob. “You never call or write.”

All expression left Michael’s face while Skye and Aurora looked on with amused smirks. “It’s barely been twenty-four hours.”

Kane buried his face in Michael’s neck, “I know… too long… right?”

Michael sighed and motioned the Fallen inside, “Welcome to my home, please make yourselves comfortable while I manage a new growth that’s sprung up.” He pushed at Kane trying to dislodge him but was again unsuccessful.

Aurora frowned not getting the joke, “A new growth?”

Skye shook his head and steered Aurora inside, “Pay them no mind. Some siblings are just that way. They tease one another just to be lovingly annoying.”

“Oh,” Aurora’s expression brightened and she wiggled her eyebrows. “Just like I used to beg you for piggy-back rides whenever you decided to flirt with a woman?”

“Yes,” Skye said with a grin and poked her forehead, “Like I said… siblings.”

Aurora looked down when she heard a bark and her eyes began to glitter when she saw a small puppy dancing around her feet. “Oh how sweet. Is this your puppy Michael?”

Kane quickly lifted his head from Michael’s neck, “Scrappy, so this is where you’ve been hiding out.”

Scrappy gave a half growl as if to say ‘where else would I be’ and started to hop around Aurora’s legs again. Giving in, Aurora stooped down to pick up the loveable puppy. Scrappy immediately began to wiggle around trying to lick Aurora’s face while sneaking quick peeks at Skye.

Skye reached out and ran his hand down the puppy’s back admiring the softness of its fur. “I think he likes you,” he winked.

“He’s adorable,” Aurora cooed. “You said his name is Scrappy?”

Kane pouted at Michael when he finally lost the hug fight they had been having. He nodded at Aurora, “Yeah, Scrappy has been with me for a while now but for some reason he’s felt the need to stay with Michael as of late. Probably because this house is so big that Michael would get lost in it without him.” He made the joke due to Aurora’s thoughts on Michael’s loneliness.

“I would not,” Michael said with an outraged tone in his voice. Hanging around Kane when his brother was in a goofy mood sometimes annoyingly rubbed off on him. “I’ll have you know that I have more hidey-holes in this place than you would ever find. And yes, unlike your inability to remember women’s names… I do remember where they all are.”

“What about the time you got lost on your way to the bathroom and opened the closet?” Kane asked with a smirk.

“I was drunk,” Michael answered glowering at him.

Kane looked over at Scrappy accusingly, “You seriously need to stop cheating on me with such a moody grouch.” He reached out to lift the puppy from Aurora’s arms but paused almost swearing he was being glared at by his normally adoring pet.

Scrappy looked at Kane and growled to show he disagreed with the suggestion of staying away from Michael and his master’s intent of taking him from the pretty girl’s well rounded bosom.

Skye stopped petting Scrappy and jerked his hand away when he saw the puppy’s eyes turn blood red. He quickly stepped back from the Yorkie with a startled expression.

“Is he a demon?” Skye asked in confusion.

Kane smiled fondly, “No, I happened to have found him during a very dark period in my life and… changed him accidentally. As far as I can tell, Scrappy will never grow old and never die… though he does seem quite happy with the arrangement.”

“So he’s a Sun God’s familiar?” Aurora asked curiously having seen demons take on animals in much the same way.

Kane and Michael looked at each other with thoughtful expressions.

“It would make sense,” Kane said with a shrug of his shoulders. “He’s just always been Scrappy… I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“Would either of you care for something to drink?” Michael asked but his eyes were on Aurora.

Kane raised his hand and wiggled his fingers, “I’ll take some of the best alcohol in the house.” He grabbed his ribs where Michael elbowed him and wheezed, “Never mind… I can wait.”

Aurora shook her head at their playfulness. “Not right now… but I’d really like to see your library.”

Michael smiled at the obvious glint in her eyes and gave her a slight bow, “Right this way my dear.”

When Aurora took Michael’s offered hand Kane leaned in close to him from the other side.

“Laying it on a little heavy aren’t we?” Kane asked in a stage whisper.

“You are just jealous because you didn’t think to try kindness as a way to woo Tabatha,” Michael shot back with a wicked grin.

“That was different,” Kane whined chasing after Michael and Aurora with Skye bringing up with rear laughing quietly at him.

“How was it different?” Michael asked with playful curiosity.

“Tabatha is my boss.” Kane stated with authority. “I had no choice but to fall for her charms and stalk her to the ends of the earth.” He paused for a moment and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “Then again… she is my soul mate so I guess an eternity of servitude to the loveliest sexiest woman in the world is worth it.”

“Touché,” Michael muttered deciding Kane’s nonsense sometimes made perfect sense.

Aurora’s eyes widened again when Michael escorted her into the huge library. The room was circular with high windows all around and there were bookshelves filled from floor to ceiling with nothing but books of all shapes and sizes. Comfortable overstuffed chairs and loveseats were placed around the room accompanied by small elegantly carved tables.

“Oh wow,” Skye whispered and wandered over to one of the shelves. He ran his fingers over the bindings as he skimmed the titles. All of the ones in this section seemed to pertain to the laws of physics with everything from Plato to Albert Einstein and even more recent works from Nassim Haramein.

“Is something wrong?” Michael asked when he saw the overwhelmed expression on Aurora’s face.

Aurora let her gaze drift around the room trying not to feel intimidated. “Where… where would I even start?” she said and suddenly smiled remembering that Skye had said the more she read the less childish her reactions to things would be. She’d argued that she wasn’t a child but secretly, she knew Skye was right. She lifted her chin not wanting Michael to think she was childish.

“I actually picked out some of the fairytales for Skye to start you out with since that’s what most human’s read when they first learn how,” Michael said and leaned closer as if sharing a secret, “it’s the magic of fairytales that make most people fall in love with reading. I’m not sure what his teaching method is, but if he was able to learn how to read in such a short span of time then I’m guessing it will work the same way with you.”

“Skye,” Aurora called him over hoping Michael was right about how quickly she could learn to do this. “Can we start with these?”

Skye moved away from the shelf he was looking at and approached the stacks of books Aurora indicated. “These are good ones to start out with,” Skye agreed seeing some he had really enjoyed and a couple he had yet to read.

“Oh goody,” Kane said and rubbed his palms together. “I get to play with Michael while Aurora has her reading lessons.” He grabbed Michael by the arm and dragged him out of the library leaving the door open in case Aurora or Skye needed them.